I had slept for a good portion of the night until I was awoken by the small movements of my current sleeping partner. It wouldn't have woken me normally, but with the new sensitivity settings Amanda and I had adjusted my synthetic parts to, the cybernetic side of my body gave my brain even more sensations. I was pretty sure Alyssa was aware of this, and she seemed to be testing to see just how sensitive I was over various parts of my chest.

Her lips touched the surface of my chest ever so gently, and she held them there for a few moments and then stopped. She shifted her head over slightly and did it again, over and over, and it was the most tender and sensual thing I had ever experienced. I was tempted to respond to her ministrations, then realized if she knew I was awake, she would probably stop.

I kept my eyes closed and took in a deep breath and she froze still, then I let the breath out and sighed as I let my arm around her shoulder slide down off of her back and laid it on the bed. With the only restriction on her movement removed, she stayed still for several minutes to see if I would keep moving.

I wasn't going to ruin this time for her, though. I remained still and maintained my breathing at a slow and even pace, just as if I had been asleep, and I felt her lips on me again. I kept count of how many times she kissed my bare chest, and like she had last night, she didn't restrict her kisses to the synthetic side of my chest.

Alyssa's hands roamed over me as she kept kissing, and I thought she was going to move up to my neck or down to my abdomen. She didn't go any further than my chest area, so I had to assume that it was a kind of fetish for her.

“Oh, Jack.” Alyssa whispered softly, almost too softly for me to hear even with my ear modifications. “I never should have told you that I didn't want to be your rebound girl.” She said and rested her head against my chest again. “I want to be. I really do.” She traced the line of scar tissue between my normal and synthetic parts. “I won't ever admit it to you, though.”

I felt a tear on my chest, and I fought hard not to put my arm back around her.

“I was so sad when you didn't get a medical discharge.” Alyssa said and let a small sob escape. “You're my superior officer and I can't let personal feelings interfere with my job.” She kissed my chest again. “This is all I'll let myself do. Only at night. Only when you're asleep.” She sighed and moved her hand across my abdomen and hugged me. “I want to do so much more, and I can't. I just can't.”

Amanda? I thought softly, and Amanda's face appeared in my HUD.

“Yes, Jack?”

Push through the medical discharge paperwork with the System.

“What about the little project they want you to work on?” Amanda asked. “They are not going to let this go.”

Have the System hire me as a civilian consultant for the military contract, and make sure that Alyssa and her squad are given indefinite leave to stay as my bodyguards. I thought. Without anyone knowing, of course.

“Like I go and tell everyone what I do for you.” Amanda said and chuckled. “It should be done by morning.”

Thank you, Amanda. I thought. I owe you.

“You do. A lot.” Amanda said. “Now go to sleep. You can't keep faking it without giving yourself away.”

I nodded mentally and let myself drift off to sleep without trying to resist it like I usually did.

A loud knocking sound woke me up and my body jerked from being startled. It shook Alyssa awake and she lifted her head.

“What... what is it?” Alyssa asked.

“The door, I think.” I said, a bit groggily.

“Door? This early?” Alyssa asked. “My alarm hasn't gone off yet.”

The knocking sound came again, and Alyssa sat up and sighed. “What time...” She checked her HUD and saw the time. “Goddammit! We slept in!”

“What? How?” I asked.

“My alarm didn't go off.” Alyssa said and got out of bed and went over to the door and opened it. “I'm sorry that-”

“You had to scramble to get dressed.” Nurse Deloris said as she saw Alyssa's dishevelled state. “You don't have to explain.”

“But...”

“It's okay.” Nurse Deloris said and entered the apartment and went into the bathroom, then came out with the things she needed to bathe me. “I slept in a bit this morning, too.”

“That's not...”

“Her alarm didn't go off.” I said.

“Uh huh.” Nurse Deloris said and smiled knowingly. “If you had gone to bed earlier, your cuddle time wouldn't interfere with getting up the next day.”

“Is that what you do?” I asked, curious.

Nurse Deloris nodded. “I'm too used to being up early in the mornings, so sleeping in is never a problem... unless, you know... it's an active choice.”

“I... I need a shower.” Alyssa said and disappeared into the bathroom.

“You shouldn't tease a trained combat fighter like that.” I said and helped put the towels on the bed and stripped off, then laid down.

“I like seeing her squirm a little.” Nurse Deloris said. “She's got it bad for you, and she won't let herself feel it.”

I opened my mouth to say that I knew that, then I closed it without saying anything. Nurse Deloris smiled and started to bathe me, and I didn't react at all to her touch. When she moved on to the synthetic parts of my body, she kept checking to see if I was going to react to her. I didn't react, mainly because I had felt what a woman who was trying to be sensual as she touched me, and getting washed was not even close to a comparison.

Nurse Deloris finished my cleaning by applying the lubrication fluid to seal my synthetic parts, and she nodded slightly when I hadn't tried to cover myself.

“I'm a little surprised you've gotten a handle on that so soon.” Nurse Deloris said, then her eyes squinted. “You better not have reduced your sensitivity settings for your cybernetics.”

I shook my head. “No, you're right. It could mess up the regulation of my life functions if I change them constantly.”

“Then what happened?”

“I felt the difference between being touched and being caressed.” I said.

Nurse Deloris looked at me with a strange look on her face, and I chuckled.

“Just hand me another unitard.” I said, and she did. I got dressed and we cleared up the bed, and Alyssa came out of the shower with damp hair and a fresh unitard as well.

“Perfect timing.” Nurse Deloris said and took the supplies into the bathroom and came back out.

“Anyone up for breakfast?” I asked and took out three brown algenate discs.

“I ate already, but those things are tasty.” Nurse Deloris said and took one. I gave one to Alyssa and the three of us opened the packages and ate in silence.

“Now I'm ready for my overhaul.” Nurse Deloris said when we were done.

“Alyssa? Can we borrow the couch and table for a while?” I asked.

Alyssa hit the button to change the bed back and stepped out of the way, and I got my portable display out of the closet and set it up on the table, and Nurse Deloris and I sat down. I gave her the same speech about my AI as I hooked myself and Nurse Deloris up to the display. They greeted each other and Amanda helped her run through all the settings she had access to.

Nurse Deloris didn't have as many extensive replacements as Alyssa and myself, so it didn't take as long for us to increase the receptiveness of her cybernetic parts. When we were done, Nurse Deloris looked at her cybernetic arm as if she had just had it replaced.

“It's like a whole new arm!” Nurse Deloris said and ran her fingers over the surface of the metal. “It's amazing!”

I disconnected the display from her and myself, then set it aside. “It's weird, isn't it? Being able to get actual feelings through synthetic parts?”

“I always have, but this...” Nurse Deloris said. “I need to go and test it out!”

“Tell my best friend not to enjoy it too much.” I said as she stood up, and she laughed.

“I can't wait for him to try!” Nurse Deloris said. “Thank you, Jack.” She looked at Alyssa. “Thanks for letting me stay for a while to have this done.”

Alyssa waved her thanks away, and Nurse Deloris nodded and left the apartment.

“So, what's on my agenda for today?” I asked.

“You can work until lunchtime, then we're going out for some exercise.” Alyssa said. “Staying cooped up is not good for you.”

“I don't know about that.” I said. “There's definitely some benefit to staying in, especially if you're not alone.”

Alyssa's face flushed a little red. “Get to work.”

I smiled at her and hooked the portable display to the ports behind my ear, then thought about the circuit board design I was playing with when I had all that time to think about it.

Amanda? Can you give me hand? I thought and brought up a basic circuit design on the display, then used the 3D option in my HUD to lift it and have it float in mid-air.

“What do you need?” Amanda asked.

Let's start with an array of resistors and capacitors. I thought and started to change the electric pathways on the circuit board to fit my design.

“What settings?”

It doesn't matter. It's just a mock up at the moment.

Amanda generated a 30 foot rack of resistors and capacitors beside me, and I glanced at it.

Very funny.

“Hey, you said it didn't matter.” Amanda laughed.

I shook my head and she reduced it to only a single shelf within easy reach, and I grabbed a handful of each and started to place them in the spots on the circuit board. As I added each one, the portable display added the relevant information to the design.

Microchips, please. Generic for now. I thought and a small tray of them appeared in front of me. Hmm, okay. Yes, the 325 will work. I grabbed three of the smallest ones and added them. All right, I need a 680.

Another tray appeared with a couple of the larger chips and I took one to sit right in the middle of the board. I had to change the leads to connect the chips together.

Memory buffers.

A larger tray appeared with several different kinds and I had to search through them to get the right size. I added 6 of them, then attached the associated memory chips to make full use of the setup.

“You'll need a transistor here and here.” Amanda said and pointed to two spots. “Your pathways are too long without them.”

Thanks. I thought and added them where she said. Diodes next.

A tiny little tray appeared and I added them where they were needed.

Should I add a battery backup?

“It depends on the power leads you add to the side.” Amanda said. “Do you want the board to depend solely on external power?”

I don't know. I thought. It will require a larger plug-in slot if I add too many external leads, but if I don't add enough, it'll lag like crazy.

Amanda chuckled. “Then split the difference. Add in a recharging micro-battery and integrate it right into the board, then add the charger to the main power lead.”

I nodded and did as she said. It required a bit of shifting around for the components I had already added; but, that was why I was doing this in virtual reality and not physically. I would have had to rebuild it several times already if that was the case. When that was done, I sat back and sighed.

Run it, please. I thought, and Amanda reached out and held onto the virtual circuit board.

“It's going to take time to test it, even virtually.” Amanda said.

We're only testing the pathways to see if it works. I thought. If it does, we can write the program to run it and then change the parts to reflect the proper use.

“You're not changing them right now because...”

Like I said before, it's only a mock up. We'll change it to high quality parts before I send it in for commission.

“You're not going to built it yourself?” Amanda asked, surprised.

I'm tempted to, but I need to know what quality I'll get if I just order it.

“Okay.” Amanda said and hugged the circuit board. “Enjoy your lunch.”

What lunch? I thought, and then Alyssa put her hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, you.” Alyssa said. “Did I interrupt anything?”

“No, actually.” I smiled at her. “I just finished up and handed it over to Amanda to test.”

Alyssa smiled. “Then let's go.”

“I thought we were going to eat lunch before going out.”

“I decided we should go out for lunch, so you can have a head start on our outing.” Alyssa said. “You're paying, by the way.”

I chuckled as I disconnected the leads of my portable display from behind my ear and put the display into the closet, then we left the apartment with my robotic dog Rusty on our heels.